Noughts & Crosses
by PuppeteerOllie
Summary: Harmony is living a fairly simple life in the Pacific North-West until the murder of her best friend's boyfriend and his sister throws the town into darkness and terror. When she comes home from school, the place is ransacked and her only clue is a weird symbol written in blood...
1. CHAPTER ONE: A RUDE AWAKENING

I blindly fumbled around the side of my bed, looking for the clock whose alarm was filling my ears with an incessant ring. I shut the little thing up, rubbed by baggy eyes and groggily walked downstairs for breakfast. Everyone else was up and ready for the day. When I joined by brother on the couch with my bowl of Cheerios, my father, dressed in his cop uniform and a gun strapped to his belt, walked into the living room and changed our cartoons into the news.

"Hey! We were watching that!" Daniel cried.

"Sorry, champ, but there's a story that I really need to hear." We returned our attention to the television and the tagline read "MOTHER & FATHER ARRESTED FOR SUSPICION OF MURDER". A man with dark hair and a moustache somehow resembling Tom Tucker from Family Guy was reading the news. "_…were out for a night-walk with their two teenage children in our local forest where the supposed murder took place. Locals contacted 911 when they heard screaming. The two children were found impaled on tree branches but the parents were left unharmed, albeit disturbed expressions on their faces. They were taken to the police station for interrogation, but all the authorities could detain from them were the words "Don't look or it takes you" over and over again. The arrested were moved to a mental hospital for further treatment and face court within the next month. _

"Wow," I said quietly. I felt my little brother trembling beside me. I gave him a reassuring hug and zipped up his jacket.

"Come on, Dan. We'll miss the bus!" Our bus always arrived at quarter-to-eight. We exchanged kisses and "I love you's" with our parents and boarded the school bus. Dan found his friend at the front and I found my only friend up the back.

"Hey, Harms!"

"Hi, Shannon," I replied as I dumped my bag at our feet when I sat down. Shannon and I first met in kindergarten. We would always play with our favourite dolls and make sand castles together. I remember her flowing blond hair getting covered with sand when we threw the tiny grains in the air and pretended it was rain when the weather was in the triple digits. It would get _so _hot in spring. I had always wanted her near perfect hair; mine was and is a dark shade of brown, which is thicker than most and wasn't all that glamorous. But, now, I've kinda gotten attached to my hair. It symbolises my personality. I'm one of those girls who would definitely join in a game of Gridiron with the boys, but the self-absorbed bastards of jocks never let me join in. As we got older, we got more attractive, I guess. And so did boys. Shannie was always the lucky one, but all her relationships lasted only two weeks because all those pigs wanted was her body. Until recently, she started dating a guy whom I've only met once, but he seemed nice; he and Shannie had matching blue eyes and they both had common interests. No one really seemed interested in a girl with messy brown hair and could join in a rumble with no fuss. Me in a nutshell: I'm my own crowd whose only friend was an angel.

The bus lurched forward and we made a few stops for other kids. All the way through the trip, I told Shannon about what was on the news.

"Wow. It's like something out of a horror movie, isn't it?" Shannie thought out loud. She was right. And I hated horror movies. "Was there any description of the…thing they were talking about?"

"No. They couldn't stop repeating themselves." We said nothing else for the rest of the trip.

When the bus arrived at school, everybody was ushered to their lockers and marched to the auditorium for our weekly assembly. Principal Robbins took to the stage. I then realised something. All the teachers on the stage were wearing black.

"Good morning, students," she said slowly. "For those of you who don't already know (Yeah, right! Nobody would stop talking about it!) last night…Two of our students…Jamie and Ryan Thompson…lost their lives," she sobbed. Ryan…who was he again? I thought.

There was a murmur throughout the crowd and then we all fell dead quiet when a silence was called. I looked around. There were boys patting each other on the shoulder, girls were sobbing into each other's shoulders, but the one thing that stood out came from right beside me; Shannon burst into tears, wailing her heart out and ran out of the theatre, her cries echoing throughout the hall. Then it hit me: Ryan was Shannie's first boyfriend.


	2. CHAPTER TWO: TATTERED AND TORN

A teacher ran to stop her, but I was faster. Everybody's eyes fell on me as I left the audience, leaving behind a loud bang beautifully amplified by our acclaimed acoustics. Left, right, left I looked. I could hear her sobs coming from the left. I ducked around the corner and there she was, huddled up in the corner sobbing her soul out. I slowly walked to her, sat with her. She immediately wrapped her arms around me. I never really hugged anyone apart from my mom or dad for years, but I gave her what she needed. And it felt good. I held her close and kept telling her it'll be okay for about ten minutes. She then fell quiet. I heard footfalls approaching us from the auditorium. It was the school counsellor, Jill.

"Oh, there you two are," she sighed. "Shannon, come with me. I'll call your parents and tell them you're coming home."

"I'll go with her!" I offered.

"Harmony, you're so considerate, but what she needs now is her parents. I would like you to return to the assembly, please." She had a point. I gave Shannie one final hug and returned to the theatre. But everyone started to pile out. Some of the procrastinators and jocks had smiles on their faces. I saw Meg in the crowd and pushed through to her. We never really spent time together, much. We knew each other from science and occasionally talked, but that's about it. I caught up to her as she was tying her shoulder-length brown hair up into her favourite bun.

"Hey, Meg. What's going on?" I asked.

"What with what's happened, the teacher's decided to dismiss us early because they knew we wouldn't stop talking about it all day."

"Hm, fair enough."

All the school buses were back in line. Everybody clambered on to the nearest one to them as rain started to fall down on us and the roar of thunder filled our ears. Danny came up next to me as I waited my turn for a seat. He was trembling again.

"Hey, champ," I said, trying to change his mood as we found some seats. "What did I miss?"

"Not much, really," he replied as the bus started. "They had a slide show memorial for Ryan and Jamie, and Daddy made a speech to watch ourselves and others, and he also set up a curfew."

"Really? Dad was there? I didn't see him."

"I saw him afterwards and he said he'll be working late tonight, and Mommy's got a meeting for work as well, so you're in charge tonight." He smiled at the thought. I loved my little brother. As the wheels on the bus went round and round, the rain really started coming down, and we were getting occasional bolts of lightning.

"Great! We can play Indians, I'll cook those meatballs that you love, we can have a movie marathon, and…" I was cut off by something that continues to haunt me to this very day. Our house had been broken into.

"Shit." I cursed quietly. Danny saw it too. The trembling resumed.

"Danny, come quick." We sped past the truck driver and ran to the front door, which had been kicked off its hinges. I slowly edged toward the door.

"Hello?" I called out. "Mom?"

"Daddy?" Danny chorused. We slowly walked into the house on tip toe and we both gasped at the sight; all the chairs had been pushed over, little shards of glass littered the carpet, and there was the occasional spot of blood. Danny wasn't trembling anymore; he was shaking.

"Mom! Are you home?!" I yelled. No answer. I returned to the door and grabbed the 12-gauge Dad hid among the umbrellas in case we had any intruders. I pulled out the heavy thing and checked to see if it was loaded. Seven rounds exactly. Dad occasionally took me out to hunt some deer and taught me some stuff on how to survive. My first shot was an excruciating pain that I hoped my shoulder would never have to go back to. Tough break, Harmony.

"Danny," I said firmly as I approached him. My poor brother was on the verge of tears. "I need you to stay right next to me, okay? If we find nothing here, we go straight to Dad at the police station, alright?"

"But Harmony, you don't have a licence!" he blubbered.

"Hey, come on! Our dad's a cop. We can pretty much do whatever we want!" I said cockily, trying to get a smile out of him. It worked, but only just. He nodded and we quietly proceeded through the house. We agreed to go upstairs first, that way, if there were any intruders, we wouldn't be trapped at the end of our search. Our feet made no noise as we climbed the carpeted stairwell. We finally reached the top, and we heard something that sent shudders through our body. There was a loud clattering noise coming from my bedroom. I moved Danny behind me with my left hand. We slowly edged toward my door. _Step…step…step…step…step…stop. _I ever so slowly moved my violently shaking left hand toward the door, whilst holding the shotgun by the grip with my right. I closed my eyes, flung the door open, shotgun poised, Danny right behind me, and I found myself pointing the gun at someone I thought to have been dead.

"Ryan?!" I gasped.


	3. CHAPTER 3: HELLO, OPERATOR?

Chapter 3! Here's a guide if you have difficulty understanding Ryan's dialogue: h=f/v, d=b/t/p, n=m, t=p you get the idea. I hope you enjoy and please review.

He was alive, but he didn't look the Ryan I very often saw tenderly hold and kiss Shannon in the school yard. He was pale. No other word for it. He was pale all over. His ghostly skin was thinning out and you could see his bones which looked as if they were ready to break through. His jersey and jeans were in rags and in some places, smothered in dirt. His trademark neat but tousled hair was no more. It was as if he cut it himself with a barber's razor. He looked at me, and all that I took in had shocked me, but what scared me beyond my wits was what had become of his face. His eyes had lost all colour, not the slightest trace of deep blue. But below them, a grotesque thing had happened to him. His mouth had been cut. And not like the Joker, it was a circle, starting from underneath his nose, going down to his chin, and back up the other side. And in the middle of his mouth…a cross. It reminded me of the operator symbol. Oh, the blood. There was blood slowly but surely dripping out of his mouth. Danny got a peek from behind me, let out a shocking scream, and fainted. I remembered what was happening and raised the gun, pointed at Ryan's chest.

"Ryan, what the hell are you doing in my house?!" I yelled. He just extended his head forward to get a better look at me. His nothing eyes widened.

"Haronee?" He could hardly pronounced my name, what with the state his mouth was in, but I could understand what he meant.

"Yeah, it's me! Now, get out of my house or I'll call the cops. If you try anything funny, you're taking one to the leg." I knew it would blow his limb clean off, it was just a threat to get him talking or something. For some reason, he started running toward me and cradled my face in his hands.

"Haronee, 'ou ha' to get oudda hear!"

"What? I have to get out of here?" he nodded. I started to get the hang of his makeshift language.

"…He sen' 'e to catcha you an' Danneee."

"Wait, who sent you to capture us?" He started shuddering.

"He wears a shoot…is hery tall…and has no face…he ish the Slender nan."

"Who?" He mustered up as much strength as he could into his clawed lips.

"Slender…man." He fell forward, panting like a tiger. "He shent ne to catcha you and Dannee, 'ut I'll ge' you outta here."

"But, where will we go?"

"Not the woods. Thass where he kidnat my sister and I. If you're wondering why I'n alive, he found us on our walk. It washh the scariest experience of my lihe. He came u' from dehind us, nade ny tarents delirioush and he threw ne and ny sis on the dranches, an we died. It washh a weird heeling. 'ut, he resssurected uss and nade us slaves to hisss will."

It all sounded like total bull to me, but I decided to roll with it. Who else would cut his mouth like that? A barber? Unlikely. We only have one and he's a kindly old man who wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Well…okay. But where can we go?"

"Tolice station," he said as he scooped up Danny's unconscious body and started to carry him fireman style. "Get to your dad, hind your mom and get the hell outta town."

I nodded and we started to run down the stairs, me in front with the gun, Ryan promptly behind me. Despite his current state, he still had a little strength in him.

"You good?" I asked as he came off the last step.

"Yeah," he said in between pants. I heard Danny starting to come to on Ryan's shoulder. I immediately ran into the living room and came back with what I was looking for: A bandit's ascot from playing Indians, and a pair of sunglasses. I threw them to Ryan as he was gently laying my brother down on the floor. He checked his temperature and ruffled his golden hair. He nodded to me in thanks as he donned the two accessories.

"Ughhh…Harmony? I had a bad dream. There was a boy with a scary face and…who's this?" Danny groggily said as he sat bolt upright to survey his surroundings.

"This is Ryan, Shannon's boyfriend, Danny. He's here to help."

"Oh! Are you driving us to the police station, Ryan?" He nodded.

"Danny, we're gonna find Daddy and Mommy and we're gonna be out of town for a while. The baddy is really close and we need to leave, okay?" I told him quickly. He nodded and stood up no sweat. He gripped Ryan's hand tightly as I flung the door open. I found myself face-to-no-face with the Slender man.


	4. CHAPTER FOUR: AN UNNAMED FEELING

Hi everyone. Sorry about not updating last week. I'll be uploading two this week to compensate. Here's the first.

It was just as Ryan had described: A being whose height towered above all others, skin whiter than the full moon, clad in a business suit with a red necktie, and above the collar, a blank face. I had no idea what I was feeling. It wasn't fear, or horror. It was something greater than that. Wait, what's worse than fear? I let out an ear-splitting scream and slammed the door shut.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. WE NEED TO GO!" I yelled. We all ran towards the back of the house. I flung the back door open and he was there again. More screaming ensued. More trembling ensued. More shutting ensued. Ryan picked up Danny and put him on my back like Yoda on Luke in _Empire_. He clung tight.

"You need to go, Haronee," he struggled. No, no no no. He doesn't mean to do _that! _I thought.

"What?! No! We're not leaving without you!"

"Ih I can disstract him long enou', you can get to your dad in tine."

"No! You're coming with us and that's-" And then he showed me something I'll never forget. He removed the sunglasses and revealed his eyes. Except they were no longer grey; They were Shannon's favourite blue, bluer than all of the oceans put together. They shimmered in whatever light the dark house now bore. They said the hardest word Ryan could say physically: _Please._ My heart sunk and I took a deep breath. I then flung my free arm around his shoulders. He returned with a hug for both Danny and I.

"Thank you for everything," I sobbed. I felt his head give a slight nod near my neck.

"Tell…Shannie I…love her."

"I promise."

"Thank you, Ryan," Danny whispered. Ryan gave my brother's hair one last ruffle and jerked his head towards the door. I struggled a smile and ran out the door and down the road. The last I heard of Ryan was a loud battle cry cut off by a stabbing sound.

Sorry this one's short. I was a little out of ideas last week and I came up with this one in a hurry. Expect the next chapter by about tomorrow. Thanks for reading! :D


	5. CHAPTER FIVE: A MIDNIGHT SUN

Hello, my readers! I must apologize for not updating the story earlier as I haven't worked on this for over a month. I had school holidays and I was a little out of ideas on what to do next. This one is fairly short, but there should be another chapter coming soon. Thank you for reading and pls review! PuppeteerOllie

My heart was pounding with every step I took as we ran from fear itself. Danny, clinging to my back, was shaking like crazy as we went for broke. Shannie's house was in sight as we made our way down Pine Road. I decided to make a quick stop to check on her. If she was unharmed, she'd have to come with us. I lowered Danny to the ground and we ran up to the porch and into the front door. Shannon's mother didn't mind that I never knocked. She always thought of me as a sister to Shannie.

"Hello! Shannon?! Mrs Drake?!" I called. There was no answer.

"Danny, stay in the lounge and call out to me if you see anything, okay?!" I yelled as I ran upstairs looking for my best friend. I checked every room upstairs, shotgun poised. Master bedroom, nil. Fred's room, nix. Shannon's room was a whole different story. There were crude sketches of trees, a circle with an x, and and many different sayings strewn about her bed. I heard whimpering coming from the closet. I slowly walked towards the door.

"Shannie?" I called softly as I opened the door. I gasped at what I saw: My childhood friend was covered in blood, her eyes were being drained of colour and one leg was bent the wrong way. Oh, my god, I thought. She's becoming one of it!

"Oh, hell. What happened?"

"Don't look or it takes you." She whispered.

"What?" She then launched herself at me.

"DON'T LOOK OR IT TAKES YOU!" she snarled. She then started sobbing.

"Oh no. Was he here?" She slowly nodded.

"Okay, Shannie, we're gonna get you out of he-"

"HARMONY! COME QUICKL-AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I ran to the top landing and was shocked to find that my brother had disappeared. I was even more shocked to see that between me and a broken window, stood the Slender man. I blinked, and with lightning speed, came right up to my face, his marble smooth head started violently shaking and weird patterns were playing with my eyesight. I just stared, and screamed. I struggled with pointing the shotgun at it's chest but I immediately started to noticed my vision going completely fuzzy. Then, I fell into the dark's embrace and it enveloped me as I drifted off into a deep slumber.


	6. CHAPTER SIX: PAPER AND PINE NEEDLES

My eyelids fluttered open and shut as I regained consciousness in an unfamiliar environment. I felt around the ground and I found myself waking up on a bed of pine needles. I must be in a forest! What the hell am I doing here? I quickly sat up and rummaged for the shotgun. Oh, shit, I muttered over and over again. It's gone. Black fog started to filter through the trees and the air felt a lot colder. Like some ghost tour, the Slender man started appearing in multiple flashes around my bed of pine needles.

"STOP FUCKING ME AROUND AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!" I screamed. And with that, a tentacle emerged from the ghost and stabbed me in the brain. My eyes and lips were forced shut as I screamed while the excruciating pain pulsed through my body. A message slowly formed on my eyelids in gold.

FIND ME EIGHT PAGES AND YOUR FAMILY CAN WALK FREE

FAILURE TO DO THIS WILL RESULT IN YOUR IMMINENT DEATHS

The pulsing stopped. And my eyes sprang open. The fog had slightly lifted and he was gone. Death?! No no no no no no no no. Pages pages pages pages…where are the goddamn pages?! I screamed in my mind, looking around for a rustle of paper. There was nothing here, just a flashlight at my feet. I quickly picked it up and ignited the light. The fog before me was erased by the light. I decided to spin in a full circle to clear my path. I ran forward and came to a fork in the road. Which way do I go? Nothing to my right, a big tree to my left. The pages could be on anything, so I took the left, walking at a quick pace. More fog was lifted as my life support penetrated the darkness. Soon after, I came to a dead tree. It was like one of those scary trees you see in cartoons, branches elongated and pointy and whose wicked shadows were cast on the ground in the moonlight. I circled the tree once. On one side, I found, pinned to the tree, a strangely familiar yellowing page of loose-leaf paper that read:

ALWAYS WATCHES NO EYES

There it was again! That operator symbol. This must be one of the pages. I excitedly yanked it off the trunk and tucked it under my arm. That was when the thunder started. I looked up at the sky. There wasn't a flash of lightning to be seen anywhere. Another boom! There goes another! BOOM. BOOOM. BOOOOOM! It was getting louder and my spine was shaking to its core. I sprinted away from the booming, not looking back. The booming was becoming quieter, but the less I moved the louder it became. A few yards down the track, I came to a pickup truck loaded with tools and portable office. What is this doing here? I scanned both things, took a crowbar just in case, and found a page.

ALWAYS FOLLOWS

Underneath it was a crude drawing like the ones I saw strewn about Shannon's bed. It was the man walking along a road. A yank later, the booming pounded into my head and I ran away like a bolt of lightning. No matter how hard I tried, it kept getting louder. Okay, Harmony. Relax. There's nothing behind you, I thought. I looked back but there he was, standing among the trees. Just looking at me. I screamed and ran away, not daring to look back.

"Oh god, I hope we don't die tonight, Danny," I sobbed to the night as I ran from it.


	7. Author's note

Hello everybody.

First off, I just want to apologize for the lack of updates. School's very busy and I just haven't been getting the inspiration to continue on with N&C. It will continue, but in the meantime, I'll be working on another fanfic. Thanks to you all for your love and support! I'll get back to you ASAP!

PuppeteerOllie


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